New book suggests milestones of adulthood have always been out of many people’s reach

While some young people today feel they’re not ready to reach the “traditional” markers of maturity, a new book reveals adulthood has always been out of many people’s reach.

In recent decades, the average age at which people marry or buy their first house has increased and many millennials feel this means that they’re not “adulting” properly. A fascinating new book, co-edited by Dr. Laura Tisdall, Newcastle University, shows that in the past, just as in the present, people have often struggled to live up to expectations of what “being an adult” means.

“Adulthood in Britain and the United States from 1350 to Generation Z” explores how although concepts of adulthood have changed over time in Britain and the United States, there have always been societal anxieties about “the youth of today.”

Through 11 case studies, the book investigates how being an adult was understood from the medieval period right up to the 21st century. It also explores how this intersected with other identities such as gender, race, class, sexuality and disability, in terms of who gets to be an adult and who decides.

It is the first time that such a collection has been brought together to offer adulthood as a way to examine ideas of power and inequality throughout history.

The book looks at ways in which both the UK and US exported cultural ideas about being an adult to deny rights to colonized and oppressed people. During the 19th century, for example, a common view of the indigenous population in India was of being “childlike.” This persisted beyond imperialism when, during the Cold War, there was a perception that Afro-Caribbean and South Asian adolescents in Britain had to “adult” to a higher standard to be taken seriously.

The legacy of colonialism also influenced views towards young people in their experiences of the juvenile court system, with children of color historically being more likely to be treated as adult defendants than their white counterparts and consequently given harsher sentences.

Other chapters in the book discuss how, throughout history, the prevalent view of who can be regarded as an adult has negatively affected other marginalized groups, including women, gay men and disabled people, and prevented them from achieving “adult” milestones such as getting married, owning property—or even getting a job or promotion at work.

“Current beliefs about adulthood stem from the 1950s, but this book shows that society’s ideas of what it means to be adult have changed throughout time and been shaped by shifting cultural and social contexts,” explained Dr. Tisdall.

“After the Second World War, there was quite a distinct break with the past and people were getting married and having families at an earlier age as a result of the post-war economic boom and emergence of the welfare state.

“This changed stereotypes about how you needed to behave at a particular age. But chronological age has never been the only marker of adulthood, especially in pre-modern periods. Even now, young people often talk about themselves in terms of life milestones rather than chronological age.

“By looking from a historical viewpoint, it’s possible to see how ideas about what society expects from adults have changed.”